Packing machinery



Feb. 18, 1930;

W. E. MOLINS PACKING MACHINERY Filed July 12. 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet l [mrenior WQQZ 6:

@T Qw-WVW Feb. 18, 1930. E, QLINS 4 1,147,639

PACKING MACHINERY Filed July 12, 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 18, 1930. w. E. MOLINS PACKING MACHINERY Filed July 12. 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 I fiweni'mr ji 2'72 d I I 1 Feb. 18, 1930. w. E. MOLINS 1,747,539

PACKING MACHINERY Filed July 12, 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Feb. 18, 1930 UETD STATES PArENr oF cE WALTER EVERETT MOLINS, OF DEPTFORD, LONDON, ENGLAND i PACKING MACHINERY Application filed July 12, 1927, Serial No. 205,266, and in Great Britain July 13, 1926.

twenty cigarettes is provided with a covering of tin foil and the wrapped bundle inserted into a carton of the slide and shell type, the cigarettes, after one or two have been removed from the carton, are liable to shake about in the carton, causing the tobacco to fall out of the ends of the cigarettes,a feature which is considerably accentuated after the foil covering has been removed and the moisture in the cigarettes has gradually evaporated.

It is an object of the present invention to provide means whereby batches of cigarettes (for example ten) are provided'with a covering of foil or like material and two or more of said batches areautomatically inserted into an outer carton so as to enable the cigarettes of one batch to be smoked whilst the remainder are still protected by the covering of foil.

The present invention consists of a packing 9 machine wherein batches of loose cigarettes are each automatically wrapped in an outer covering of foil or like material and two or more of said batches automatically arranged side by side in an outer carton or container.

The invention is more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 illustrates a plan view of a packing machine constructed according to the present invention. i

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a mechanism employed for arranging two batches of cigarettes side by sideand'placing themupon'the slide of a slide and shell carton.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line AA of Fig. 2. p t

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the mechanism employed for moving the batches of cigarettes out of line and arranging themside by side.

Fig. 5 is an end view of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the mechanism employed for moving a pair of batches of cigarettes on to a slide, and

F 1g. 7 isa detailed view looking in the direction of the arrow B, Fig. 2, of the device 7 employed for holding the batches of cigarettes in position upon the slide.

Referring to the drawings which illustrate a machine constructed according to the present invention which comprises travelling conveyor 1 having pusher pieces 2 carried on of an eccentric driven from the main drive of the machine, the table being supported on rollers journalled in the bed of the machine. At the rear edge of the base 7, there is provided a pusher tooth 8 which is arranged to pass through an opening in the back member 5 and on the movement of the base 7, moves one slide at a time from the bottom of the stack so that the said slide is caught between continuously rotating rollers 9 driven from the main drive of the machine and fed between suitably curved plates 10 which bend up the longitudinal edges of the slide, whereafter the same is passed to a further set of rotating rollers 11 which deliver each slide on to the conveyor 1 at right angles to the path of travel of the said conveyor. The slide with the sides thereof folded upwardly is located between the depending walls 38 and 39 ofan interceptor 40. The interceptor 40 is pivoted upon a spindle 41 and is arranged to be moved upwardly by a cam 42 engaging with a roller 43. The interceptor 40 is raised automatically as the pusher piece 2 approaches the slide. As the slide is being fed forwardly to the conveyor 1, batches of cigarettes are being automatically removed from the vanes of a hopper 12 which is preferably constructed according to U. S. Patents 1,601,257 and 1,618,214.

Mounted below the delivery end of the vanes of the hopper 12 is an endless conveyor, pro-- vided with a series of pusher pieces 18. The pusher pieces 18 are operable to move two or more rows of cigarettes along the bed of the machine into the path of a web of reinforced foil. The web of foil is fed downwardly through the bed of the machine so as to lie above and below the path of the oncoming batch of cigarettes and a strip of reinforced foil is severed from the web as a batch of cigarettes meet the same. a

The foiling mechanism diagrammatically illustrated at 1 1 in Fig. 1 is preferably constructed according to U. S. Patent 1,468,246. After a batch of cigarettes has met the foil and a strip has been severed therefrom, the cigarettes and foil are moved through a folding mechanism which wraps the foil about the cigarettes into a U shaped block ended envelope, open at one end. The batch of cigarettes is thereafter engaged by tucking mechanism 14; which is arranged to remove each wrapped batch of cigarettes from the conveyor 13 and conveys the same forwardly so as to permit the side tucks and end folds of the batch of cigarettes to be completed. The tucking mechanism is preferably constructed according to U. S. Patent 1,517,307. The enveloped batch of cigarettes are thereafter moved between two depending pieces 15 and 16 secured to a pusher piece 17, which pieces hold the wrapped batch of cigarettes in position as the pusher piece 17 moves the same transversely to the original path thereof and brings the compartment formed between the depending pieces 16 and 18 opposite the line of the oncoming batches of cigarettes so that the next wrapped batch of cigarettes is inserted between the depending pieces 16 and 18. After a batch of cigarettes has been lo cated between the depending pieces 16 and 18, the two batches of cigarettes are moved into the path of a pusher piece 19 which is operable to push the pair of wrapped batches of cigarettes on to the slide which has already been located in the path of the conveyor 1.

Two batches of cigarettes after they have been placed upon the slide are moved together with the slide by the conveyor 1 through folding mechanism which folds the ends of the slide about the ends of the batches of cigarettes and thereafter inserts the loaded slide into a shell which has been automatically fed into the path of the oncoming slide.

One mode of inserting the slide in the shell is shown in detail in my prior U. S. Patent 1,473,496, and has been diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings accompan ing this application. .The collapsed shellsare stacked in a gauge 57 on the same side of the machine as the slide magazine,

this magazine 57 being similar in construction to the slide magazine, and having a simibe located at 66 in front of the shell for opening the latter to receive the slide, the means illustrated in my prior patent above referred to being of knife form. The details of the shell openerconstituteno part of the present invention.

The'moving slide enters the shell, and the shell and slide are thereafter carried} together along the conveyor, the plate 61 being swung aside so as not to impede the movement of the shell after the slide is introduced therein. The slide and shell are thereafter moved relatively to one another by any convenient mechanism to complete the insertion of the slide in the shell and the filled cartons removed and placed in outer containers.

The mechanism employed for arranging the covered batches of cigarettes side by side in pairs isillustrated in Figs. 2, 4E and 5.

Thepusher piece 17 is pivotally secured to a slide 20 movable in guides 21 by a pivoted lever 22 which is movable by means of a cam 23 against the influence of a spring 24. The cam 23 is designed so that the pivoted lever 22 moves in steps so that when a wrapped batch of cigarettes has been inserted into the compartment formed between the depending pieces 15 and 16, the roller 25 on the lever 22 moves over the inclined surface 26 of the cam 23 so as to move the compartment formed between the depending pieces 16 and 18 in position so as to receive the next oncoming batch of, cigarettes moved by the pusher piece 13. When the compartments formed between the depending pieces 15 and 16 and 16 and 18 have each received a batch of cigarettes, the roller moves over the inclined surface 27 of the cam 23 so asto move the two compartments into the path of the pusher piece 19, illustrated in Figs. 1 and 6, which pusher piece is automatically arranged to move the batches of cigarettes on to the slide in the manner hereinbefore set forth. The roller 25 thereupon engages with the inclined face 28 of the cam 23 so as to move the pusher piece 17 into its initial position and during its movement in the reverse direction, the bell crank lever 29 operable by the cam 30, raises the pusher piece 17 above the path of the oncoming batch of cigarettes so that when the pusher piece reaches its initial position, it is again lowered upon the bed of the machine.

The pusher piece 19 which removes two batches, arranged side by side, from the compartments of the pusher piece 17 is operable by a pivoted lever 31 movable about a pivot 32 by a cam 33 against the influence of a spring 34. The pusher piece 19 is operatively connected to a slide 35 movable in guides 36 by the lever 31. The pusher piece 19 after it has placed a pair of batches of cigarettes upon a slide is moved by the lever 31 back into its initial position, and during its return path the pivoted link 37 operable by a cam 38, raises the pusher piece 19 above the path of the pusher piece 17.

It will be appreciated that the wrapped bundles of cigarettes may be arranged to engage end to end with one another after the side tucks and end folds are completed upon the open end of the bundle, and a row of bundles so formed are moved intermittently as each successive bundle is discharged from the tucking mechanism. With an arrangement of this character, the slides may be fed into the path of a conveyor 1 travelling at right angles to the path of the bundles of cigarettes and the conveyor may be moved in steps by a ratchet mechanism so as to enable two successive bundles to be moved out of line and into parallel relationship upon said slide. Preferably the slide is held stationary while a first bundle is moved into position thereon, whereupon the slide is moved a distance equivalent to the width of one bundle, to enable, at the next intermittent movement of the bundles, the next successive bundle to be placed side by side with the first bundle. The loaded slide is thereafter moved into engagement with the shell and is automatically inserted therein, in any desired manner.

It is to be understood that the cigarettes may be removed from the vanes either by an endless conveyor or a plunger and further, the side tucks and end folds may be folded upon the end of each bundle in any desired manner.

Further, it will be appreciated that two or more bundles may be fed into packet in which the slide is already inserted partly or wholly into the shell without in any way departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Thus it will be seen that according to the present invention batches of cigarettes, for example ten, wrapped in a covering of tin foil may be automatically arranged in pairs with an outer carton or container.

According to the present invention it is immaterial whether the outer wrapping of foil comprises a U shaped block ended container or merely a strip of foil which passes around four sides of the batch of cigarettes as the compartments formed at the end of the pusher piece 17 are constructed soas to hold a batch of cigarettes together until they are correctly positioned upon the slide of a slide and shell carton, or within a suitable container.

' What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A packing machine which comprises in combination means for moving a series of batches of loose articles, such as cigarettes, in succession through wrapping mechanism operable to fold each batch in an outer covering of wrapping material, means for arranging the successive batches in pairs with the respective batches located side by side, means for automatically placing each pair of batches upon the slide of a slide and shell packet and means for inserting each loaded slide in a shell.

2. A packing machine which comprises in combination meansoperable to movea series of batches of cigarettes simultaneously in line and wrap each batch in an outer covering of foil,a pusher piece operable automatically to arrange the leading pair of batches of cigarettes side by side and a second pusher piece operable automaticallyto move the said pair on to a slide of a slide and shell packet.

3. A packing machine which comprises in combination means operable to move a series of batches of cigarettes in line and wrap each batch in an outer covering of foil, a conveyor movable in steps and operable to movethe leading pair of batches out of line and arrange the same side by side in the path of a second conveyor adapted to move the said pair of batches on to the slide of a slide and shell packet.

4. A packing machine which comprises in combination means operable to move a series of batches of cigarettes simultaneously in line and wrap each batch in an outer'covering of foil, a pusher piece movable in steps and operable to move the leading pair of batches out of line and arrange the same side by side, and a second pusher piece movabe in a direction transverse to the movement of the first pusher piece and operable to move each pair of batches on to the slide'of a slide and shell packet.

5. A packing machine which comprises in combination means operable to move a series of batches of cigarettes simultaneously in line and wrap each batch in an outer covering of foil, a pusher piece provided with two transverse compartments formed at the free end thereof'operable to move in steps so that two succeeding batches of cigarettes are automatically moved one into each of said compartments and. thereafter conveyed into a.

predetermined position and a second pusher piece operable to move the side by side batches out Of said compartments on to the slide of a slide and shell packet.

6. A packing machine which comprises in combination means operable to move a series of batches of cigarettes simultaneously in line and wrap each batch in an outer covering of foil, a pusher piece provided with two transverse compartments formed at the free end thereof operable to move in one direction in steps so that two succeeding batches of cigarettes are automatically moved into each 0 said compartments and thereafter conveyed into a predetermined position, a second pusher piece operable to move the side by side batches out of said compartmentson to the slide of a slide and shell packet and means operable to raise the said first pusher piece above the path of the second pusher piece and move the same in the reverse direction.

7. A packing machine which comprises in combination means operable to move a series of batches of cigarettes simultaneously in line and wrap each batch in an outer covering of foil, a pusher piece provided with two transverse compartments formed at the free end thereof operable to move in steps so that two succeeding batches of cigarettes are automatically moved one into each of said compartments and thereafter conveyed into a predetermined position, a second pusher piece operable to move the side by side batches out of -said compartments on to the slide of a slide and shell packet, means arranged to raise the first pusher piece out of the path of the second pusher piece and automatically move the same in the reverse direction, and means arranged to raise the second pusher piece above the path of the first pusher piece and move the same in the reverse direction.

8. A packing machine which comprises in combination means for removing batches of a predetermined number of loose articles, such as cigarettes, from a hopper, means for moving the said batches through Wrapping mechanism which is operable to fold an outer covering of wrapping material about each batch, means for arranging the said wrapped batches in pairs with the batches located side by side upon a slide of a slide and shell carton, and means for locating the loaded slide wholly within the shell of the said carton.

9. A packing machine which comprises in combination means for removing batches of a predetermined number of loose articles, such as cigarettes, from a hopper,'means for moving simultaneously a series of batches in succession through wrapping mechanism which is operable to fold each batch in an outer covering of wrapping'material, means for automatically arranging the successive batches in pairs with the batches located side by side upon a slide of a slide and shell carton,vand means for automatically inserting the loaded slide in the shell of said carton.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature. a

WALTER EVERETT MOLINS. 

